


Abandoned: A Side Effect of Death

by deebainwonderland



Series: Irondad Whumptober [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 19:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21184727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deebainwonderland/pseuds/deebainwonderland
Summary: Grief can be a bonding agent. For Peter and Tony, it goes like this.#whumptober2019 #no.26 #abandoned





	Abandoned: A Side Effect of Death

**Author's Note:**

> I'm particularly fond of this installment of Irondad Whumptober so I hope you enjoy!

“Come on, you dumb thing!” Peter muttered under his breath, scrubbing at a particularly stubborn stain on his mother’s grave.

Between being Spider-Man, a high school student, and a Stark Industries intern, Peter Parker did not have an abundance of free time. Still, it had been well over a month since he’d visited his parents' graves and Peter felt the heat of guilt when he’d arrived today and saw their condition. The cemetery staff was good about taking care of the grounds but the graves themselves often had weed stains and damage from little animals.

Peter set to work immediately. It would likely take hours to get his parents’ graves back into pristine condition. But that didn’t matter. As their son, he owed them at least that. Peter worked a wet rag into the “M” of his mom’s name, scraping out the cemented dirt. 

So many years they’d been gone. As of today, another year. He’d been so young when they’d died in the accident. Peter didn’t have many solid memories about the pair. Most of what he remembered seemed like fragments of a dream. A flash of color with the low baritone of his father’s laugh. Or the way his mother always smelled like honey. 

Seventeen was too young to be cleaning the graves of your parents. 

Peter was so focused on his task that he didn’t register the person moving in behind him until they were directly behind him.

A twig snapped and Peter leaped to his feet, spinning around with his arms raised.

“Woah, kid! It's just me!”

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asked incredulously. 

It was indeed Tony Stark, standing just a few feet away with his arms raised palms out. Peter noted that his mentor was dressed down unusually in torn jeans and a raincoat. Peter hadn’t even noticed the rain beginning to fall.

Peter looked from Tony to his parent’s graves and back again. “Sir, what are you doing here?” 

“Ahh, that,” Tony replied slowly, running his hands down the tops of his legs. The man sounds almost… nervous. Peter always thought that nervous wasn’t even in Tony Stark’s realm of emotions. 

“I texted you this morning,” Tony said, looking everywhere but the kid in front of him. “Normally you answer at lightspeed so I was concerned when you didn’t text back. I called May and she told me what today was. Told me you were probably here.” 

“Ohh.” Peter wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer. I haven’t really looked at my phone today.”

“Wait, no, kid, don’t apologize,” Tony said quickly, rubbing the back of his head. “I just… wanted to check on you.” 

Peter stood there, wet rag dripping from his hand, totally unsure of how to handle this situation. He’d never imagined that one day Tony Stark would be standing at the Parkers’ graves. The two sides of his world were clanging together uncomfortably. 

“I’m ok,” he said finally, lifting the rag awkwardly. “Just cleaning.”

Tony stepped up next to him and looked down at the graves. Mary Parker and Richard Parker. God, they had died so many years ago. Peter had been so _ young _. 

Tony glanced uncertainty to the boy next to him. “I didn’t mean to intrude, kid,” he said softly. “I can totally go if you’d like to be alone. I just wanted to come and offer to be here. If you didn’t. Want to be alone, that is.” Oh man, he was terrible at this. Why had he thought this was a good idea?

Peter watched his mentor wring his hands with nerves and felt a sudden rush of affection for the man. The two had grown closer over the last few months and Peter never liked being alone on this day anyway. It was so much easier to be swallowed up by grief when you were alone.

“I don’t mind, Mr. Stark,” Peter said with a smile that made the man melt a little. “But it’s raining and cold and this is going to take a while.” 

Tony huffed and plopped gracelessly onto the ground. “I don’t mind hanging out, kid. That’s what I came here for.”

And so it went. Tony watched over the boy as he pulled weeds and scrubbed at dark spots on the grave. He would offer to help but somehow he knew Peter wanted to care for his parents himself. All he could do was be a silent source of comfort for the boy as he went about his work. 

Finally, Peter collapsed next to Tony on the ground, watching the graves with satisfaction. 

“They look good, kid,” Tony told him softy. “You did brilliant work.”

Peter hummed and shuffled closer to lay his head on the man’s shoulder. After a long moment of hesitation, Tony pressed a kiss to the brown curls and then stiffened, terrified that he had crossed an invisible line. 

But Peter, as he always did, surprised the man. He simply let out a little happy noise and that was that. Years from now, when Tony would look back on his relationship with Peter Parker, he would recognize this moment as a defining turning point. 

A man and a boy sat in a cemetery, truly understanding each other for perhaps the first time. It would be the beginning of a new, softer relationship.

For now, he only knew that he loved the steady weight of the boy against his side.

After a long time, Peter finally spoke. “You know, when I was younger, I went through this phase of totally hating them. My parents.”

Tony looked down at the top of Peter’s head and could see him watching the silent graves. His curls were beginning to straighten in the rain. Tony wrapped his arm around the boy’s head, spreading his fingers over his hair. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Peter said. His voice was steady but he sounded tired. “I mean how do you explain to a little kid that their parents died in an accident? The only thing I really understood was that for a while they were here, but now they weren’t. I felt… abandoned.”

Tony thought back the moment he had heard about his own parents’ deaths. He had been far older than Peter but he only remembered days and weeks and months of anger. “I get that kid. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone grieves in their own way.”

“That’s the thing though,” Peter replied rather thoughtfully. “I’m not ashamed of it. In a real way, they did abandon me. Death causes abandonment. Not usually an intentional one but still. I mean, I eventually got over it. I don’t feel that way anymore. Though on some days, that’s harder to remember.”

Tony had begun to feel, and not for the first time, that he was holding a miracle in his arms. Good lord, he was not equipped for this. Then again, perhaps that was some of the reason why he had to do it. 

“When did you get so wise, kiddo?” he asked, turning his head to bury his nose in wet curls.

Peter snorted. “S’ not wisdom, Mr. Stark. Just experience.” 

And so the two sat together in the rain, watching over the graves of Richard and May Parker. Both, in their own ways, the children of death. 

Finally, the rain let up as Peter was dozing on Tony’s shoulder. The man got to his feet with a groan as his muscles protested staying in one position for so long. He reached a quick hand down to catch the boy’s head as he jerked back to wakefulness and almost fell over. 

Peter blinked up at Tony, allowing his face to rest in the man’s hand. 

“Come on, Pete,” Tony said softly, pulling the boy to his feet. “We got soaked. Let me take you home. We can stop for some pie on the way.” 

Perhaps it was ridiculous to talk about pie in a graveyard. Or perhaps it wasn’t. Pie was for the living. And for now, at least, that was the world to which Tony Stark and Peter Parker belonged. 

Peter allowed himself to be pulled along. “Sure, Mr. Stark. That sounds nice.”

He stooped to pick up his cleaning supplies and handed them over to Tony when the man reached out his hands.

Peter turned one last time to the graves of his parents. He brushed his hand over the top of his mother’s with a smile. 

“Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Love you.”

Peter turned away and followed Tony from the graveyard. 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudo and/or comment if you enjoyed!


End file.
